The invention relates to an apparatus for the selection and automatic dispensing of products such as food products, comprising at least a storage cabinet for the unwrapped storage of products, detachment means for the removal of the stored products in a dispensable form, control means comprising, among other things, a memory and an operating panel which is connected with the control means and which is provided with selection means for, among other things, the selection of the type of product to be dispensed, the desired quantity and optionally the form in which the product is to be dispensed.
Such an apparatus is known from EP 0 470 673. The apparatus described in this document is used for slicing meat products stored in a refrigerated atmosphere or an atmosphere provided with protective gas, the user conveying his order to the control system by means of an operating panel. Practice has shown that the apparatus slices the meat product and carries out the order in a very short time and that the performance of the apparatus is limited by the time required to pass the order on to the control stem. Such an apparatus is used, for instance in a shop, by many different people who are not familiar with operating panels and who are not trained to use them. Putting an order through to the control system seems to cause much delay, which limits the performance of the apparatus.
In order to avoid this disadvantage, the selection means of the apparatus according to the invention have separate selection positions for all possible options, and are provided with indicator means to indicate the selection that has been made.
By offering a choice of selection positions for all the possible options the user is enabled to choose quickly, and immediately after the selection is made, indicator means display his selection, so that he is immediately able to make adjustments if necessary. This allows the user to make his choice more quickly and to correct any errors quickly. The fact that there is less loss of time ensures that the apparatus is used more efficiently.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,638,312 to Quinn, et al. an order system is disclosed for order entry in a fast food restaurant. In a fast food restaurant a client selects his order from a limited list whereby there is no variety in the items that can be chosen and the selected items are prepared and packaged in the required quantity of selected items. In this order entry system there are no options for the selected items, only the quantity of the items can be changed.
In accordance with an improvement of the invention, the control means are designed such that after a product has been selected, the indicator means display a stored standard setting of options associated with a product on the operating panel.
This aids the user in making his choice, and the setting selected as standard is the one that will be used for the majority of the orders. As a result, the choice will be made more quickly and the order can be carried out faster.
In accordance with a further improvement of the invention the control means comprise a counter for the registration of the selections made per product and an adjustment device which, in concurrence with the counter, adjusts the standard setting associated with a product. In this way the standard setting can be adjusted to the setting used most frequently.
In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, the selection means are push buttons comprising lamps as indicator means. The use of lamps with the buttons provides an easily visible direct feedback with respect to the selections made.
In accordance with an embodiment of the invention in which the various kinds of products are visible in the storage cabinet, indicator means are provided near the selectable products, to indicate the provisionally selected product. This allows the consumer to compare the product selected on the operating panel with the product that will be cut off. This comparison facilitates the use of the operating panel for people who are not accustomed to using such panels.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,272,394 to Lipps describes a system whereby lights are used for locating a stored quantity of a product in a rack in order to manually take a quantity of the product out of the rack.
The invention also relates to an apparatus which is embodied such that the detachment means comprise a cutting device for slicing foodstuffs such as, for instance, meat products, and the selection means for the quantity comprise a first subgroup for the selection of the weights and a second subgroup for the selection of the number of slices. This offers sufficient quantity options because it is possible for one thing to select a fixed weight, or for another thing a quantity in which not the weight is important for the customer, but the number of slices.
In accordance with a further improvement of the invention the temperature in the storage cabinet is some degrees below freezing point. Due to the fact that the meat products and the cutting device have a temperature of some degrees below freezing point, even meat products that are difficult to slice, for instance, because they have a high fat content, can be thinly sliced. The temperature at the bottom of the storage cabinet is then preferably about 8xc2x0 below freezing point and at the top of the cabinet at least 20xc2x0 below freezing point. The meat products which due to their fat content are the most difficult to slice, are stored at the bottom.